Daily Republican., 1887-06-30
Great Mistakes Of susi.sss Mon.

Amos Lawrence of Boston, who
Kept a long life record of successes anC
failures of those he knew, found tha
ninety five out of every hundred per
sons engaged in trade utterly failed
and were no more heard OF by the
great public. Only one in twenty sue.
ceededl The successful men were
known everywhere; they were lauded
In the public papers and pointed at by
the admiring crowds. They were So
much conspicuous on every hand than
the poor, obscure, forgotten failures,
that to superficial persons the idea be.
came prevalent that getting rich by
trade and speculation was pretty Ger.
tain operation, and as consequence
rushed into 1t by hundreds. A young
man OF my acquaintance said to me,
Il am going into business on big
scale-I am determined either to make
fortune, or else 60 to smash!" The
criminal wrong he would do by thus
recklessly risking the property of
others whose means he borrowed, did
not seem to trouble him. The fact
was, lie was wrongly educated; his
father was reckless speculator, had a
bank account of fifty or hundred
thousand or more, and when the crash
came he and his endorsers and the vii
lage bank which he had succeeded in
beguiling, all went under together.
Men who fail are tempted to resort
to deception for time In order to keep
on their feet, and this is one reason
that so many poor fellows find it hard
afterwards to wash off the stain they
have received
Another error which many fall into,
is the ambition of being at 'the head
of the business"-not occupyinga sub
ordinate position. I knew a man,
rather young in years, who was head
clerk Ina large city establishment some
forty years ago, received a salary of
81, 800 (Which was equal to $4,000 or
"a 900 wJ-he was living in safe
and moderate way. But he did not
wish to he "clerk." he aspired to the
name of merchant" and in partner
ship with two others of his age. open.-
ed magnificcntly with borrowed CAPT
tai. In less than two years the firm
failed for $500, 900, and his long life
since then has been much more OBJ
scurc than that of head clerk.
Another mistake, made by many
men who intended to be strictly hon
est, is in trying to carry large bank
account. They do not seem to be
aware that In addition to meeting all
the expenses of the business, they will
have heavy sum 20 pay annually in
the shape of interests, which like a
hungry animal will be pcrpetually de-
vouring their strength. A worthy
friend of mine tried this experiment.
He was very Observation-Disclosures
his business well-hired about sixty
hands at the busy season of the year.
and having good credit for honesty,
obtained bank account for $50. 900.
Year after year-year after year, the
So, 900 had to be paid, to say nothing
OF the big principal, and the pay of his
many hands and other expenses. He
hoped for turn in the tide which was
gradually loading him, and which
fnally swept away all that he had.
Another acquaintance, at the head of
hne establishment in appearance,
and living in fine house, had much
larger debt, bank and otherwise, of
over 81 100000. But 100000 year,
which could be scarcely met in very
tsir sailing, quickly brought the great
crash when business matters became
cloudy.
This is all wrong. I have known
some others who became wealthy and
men, who worked on diff.
ferent basis, and avoided vast debts.
l had once the privilege of conversing
one evening with three of these men
who lived in an eastern city. One of
them, the president of bank, and
who ha6 been a flour merchant, said
that In the commencement of his bust |
ness, the remark of tattling acuuaint.
ance was reported to him, that "Mr. /
=. will never be worth more than
twelve barrels of -four" He replied,
"Very well; one thing is certain, they
will be paid for.' The second gentle
man of the three, said that he and his |
partners had always adhered to the
rule never to borrow more money than |
forced sale of their goods in store |
would more than pay. They had
plenty of other means. The third said |
he never borrowed dollar; but the
necessary funds required tor his bust.
ness were always obtained at the bank
by drawing on his own deposits. |
These three men all began in a small
way, and worked safely upwards, and
zach one was then worth hundreds of |
Farmers Of small means. who think
'f running largely into debt for new
purchases, may perhaps obtain use-
ul suggestion from the above re-
marks.
Cremation Advo 0ates,
The etnc h hO1dara ~ <ha ph;lodo,.l.